Scotaly 2011: The Fantasy, The Reality

Because We Are Idiots

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:09:00 +0000

This blog is a bunch of questions we have asked ourselves. They are regrets. They are also a lesson learned about doing things you want to do when you have the opportunity, because later you may wish you had.

OK, I have given you the answers to the first couple of questions, but you will have to fill in the answers for the rest. It is pretty easy because the answer is about the same for each one.

Why did I only buy ONE murano glass charm for €3 in Venice?
Because I Am An Idiot

Why didn't we take pictures of Aly with her jewelry?
Because We Are Idiots?

Why did we not take pictures of the seven course meal on the-day-we-nearly-ate-ourselves-to-death?

Why didn't I take a picture of Manuele? Who is Manuele? Someone I really should have taken a picture of, obviously. If I had a picture, you would know why I should have taken his picture. :)

Why didn't we get off the bus on the beach at Ettrick Bay on Bute?

Why did I almost miss the last train from Robecco d'Olio back to Brescia and end up standing between two train tracks in the foggy dark by myself hoping the train would come? (Ok, so this one should read "because I am an idiot")

And why didn't I take a picture of the station in Robecco d'Olio?

Why didn't I go see Mario?

Why didn't I get pictures of the inside of the church in Pontevico?

Why didn't we ask for a picture of the Guardian Angels that escorted us to our hotel from the train station in Brescia?

How did we forget to go into the walls in Lucca?

How did we spend five weeks in Europe and not go into one museum?

How did we spend five weeks in Europe and only see the inside of two churches (make that one for Becky)?

How did we spend 2 1/2 weeks in Italy and not see any art except a fresco on the side of a hardware store in Porcari?

Why did we go in October when Nomadi doesn't do concerts?

Why didn't we get more pictures of us with the people we met there?

Why didn't we do this years ago?

I am sure there are more, because our (my) level of idiocy is well developed, and as I think of them, I will add them on to future blogs.

We are still doing some notes from the trip, and want to get them down before we forget them. You know how it is when you go on a trip, there are so many great things that happen, and you think you won't ever forget them, but years later you remember the big things, and forget some of the smaller ones. If you are tired of getting these blogs, let me know and I will unsubscribe you, and I will understand, but I have a bunch of things I want to write about. Some of these things are from early in the trip, and some are just thoughts, and some will be just quotes. We will see.

Senza Parole (Without Words)

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:54:00 +0000

Where Does One Go

You know, to write you a letter

is not an easy thing.

You know, I feel so fragile,

the bombs don't listen to you.

But,

this war will not change me.

Ever.

Where does one go,

what does one do

to cling to life

while outside the night explodes?

Where does one go,

what does one do,

if to live in this place is like casting lots?

You know time is slipping away,

but it has not all been useless.

Me, I know I will see you grow,

it is a promise that I will not fail.

And then, still another day will come

for us.

For us.

Where does one go,

what does one do

to cling to life

while the night outside is exploding?

Where does one go,

what does one do

if to live in this place is like casting lots?

And I am no longer surprised,

and the craziness dances inside of me,

and I think I should protect myself,

but it is hard to fight

if the weeping of a mother cannot save the night.

The night.

Where does one go,

what does one do

to hold on tight to life

while outside the night explodes?

Where does one go,

what does one do

if to live in this place is like casting lots?

You know, to write a letter

has never been easy.

Lest We Forget

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:29:00 +0000

Veteran's Day
November 11, 2011

This Blog is dedicated to all of our family members who have served their country. If I have forgotten anyone, please let me know and I will fix it.

Peter Tozer, Continental Army

Chauncy E Bliven
Union Army, War of the Rebellion
George L. Final
Grand Army of the Republic

WWI Recruiting Poster
Wilfred Benoit. US Army
George I Final. US Navy

George I. Final, Great White Fleet
Richard J. Campion, US Nuclear Submarine Service
Ralph Schaffer, Vietnam Era
Dana Schaffer, Desert Storm

Canadian Forces
Andrew Wilson, Killed in Action
James B. Wilson, Killed in Action

James A. Final
US Marine Corps WWII, Korea
Purple Heart II

Liberty Ships
Gerald W. Tozer, Merchant Marine
WWII

Ralph Schaffer, USN
Vietnam Era

USS Sculpin
Richard J. Campion, USN
Nuclear Submarine Service

Patrick W. Benoit, WWII
Dana B. Schaffer Iraq, Afghanistan
Bronze Star II
Luke P. Benoit Iraq, Korea

With love, respect, and gratitude, Dee and Becky

Always Make New Mistakes.....

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:47:00 +0000

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
-- George Bernard Shaw

Anytime you take on a new challenge, there is a very steep learning curve for a while. So many things about this trip were learning moments, and this blog will address some of them. Some were funny, some could have been tragic, some were just stupid moments that were frustrating, and some were "duh" moments, but I can honestly say that if this was the way I would have to learn for the rest of my life, I would love to do it.

So, I am going to throw some things out in a list. They are not in chronological order, and there is no particular importance between one or another. Some of these things will cause people to wonder "what were they thinking", but others may prevent someone from making the same mistake. I am going to just make some statements, and if someone wants further information about the statements, I will be happy to elaborate.

1. Don't forget to make a reservation on a train for which you are using a pass in Italy. Yes, you have the pass, but you need to make a seat reservation on some trains. This is the reason they say that passes are not always a good idea in Italy, because there is not much of a time or money savings. And you can end up with a large fine if you don't have a sympathetic conductor. Fortunately, we did.

2. If you ask someone on the street in Italy for directions, they may or may not know where your destination is, even if they have lived there for years. They will even sometimes stop other strangers on the street to get for directions for you (this happened twice to us). The directions will usually involve "sempre dritto (straight ahead)", or a couple of "destre" or "sinistre" (rights or lefts), and may be the actual opposite of the directions you just got from someone else, The fact that they have no idea where they are sending you won't stop them from giving you directions on how to get there. But they are so dang helpful while they are doing it, even if you end up twelve block further from where you wanted to go than when you asked them.

3. When you pay someone in Italy for a counter service, don't give the money directly to the person, place it on the dish that is there to receive it. The person will place the change on that same dish, not in your outstretched hand. No matter how long you have your hand out. I have thought about this, but still don't have a really good expaination why. Maybe it is easier to see someone count it into the dish than into a hand. Just how it is done.

4. "Clam chowder" means something SOOOO different from New England or Manhattan clam chowder, but that gave me another chance to try something I have never tried.

Zuppa della posteria
Note translation: Clam Chowder

Zuppa della posteria
Note reality

5. You can't buy something "take-out/take-away" and then sit down at a table outside the restaurant. If you want to sit at the table, you sit down and you will be waited on. This was true in Scotland and in Italy.

6. When the train stops, be ready to get off. And if you get off on the wrong stop, be even faster figuring it out and getting back on the train. You won't have much time to figure it out.

7. If you are a (Scotch) Whisky (no "e") drinker, don't even try Dailuaine 27 year old whisky. You will regret it. Trust me on this one.

8. Homemade wine, however is easily found in Italy, and really good. We were there for less than three weeks and had homemade wine three times and sent some home. It was always better than the house wines we had. Oh, you actually have to be in a "home" to have homemade wine, though. Try to get friendly with some Italians. Trust me again, here... not that hard.

9. Haggis is neither bad enough to make fun of,  nor good enough to ever want again.

10. Plan on pay toilets. Have an assortment of coins, because if it says €.30, it means €.30, and you have to have exact change.

11. If the nice person coming out of the pay-toilet offers to let you sneak in without paying, don't do it. There is an automatic total bathroom cleaner that kicks in as soon as you exit and the door closes. There is a reason why there isn't a toilet seat, and why there is a drain in the floor, and it isn't for overflows.   On the up side, they are really clean, and you eventually get used to the cold seat.

12. The dates and times of train strikes are announced several days to weeks ahead. Pay attention. Otherwise you will add the word "soppresso (cancelled)" to your Italian vocabulary.   You don't want to learn this word.

13. Be really careful which parts of your paper work you throw away. Sometimes one part of a multipart ticket is the ticket, and the other parts are just seat reservations. Say you have a train trip with two to three train changes, but only one ticket. You will have 3 seat reservations. If you use one of the seat tickets and then throw it away, that is alright, but if you throw the ticket part away (by mistake), the seat ticket won't let you through the electronic gate, so even if you have the seat ticket....you get the idea. This is one time that being a "foreigner" is a benefit; sometimes you can claim ignorance. In any case, don't throw anything away until that part of the trip is complete. The ticket also doesn't work upside down.

14. On your way to Europe (or probably any other country), don't get upset with any of the security measures, delays, or other travel irritations you may come across. Believe me, coming home is a whole lot more frustrating. For example, if you are in a duty free shop and you buy some liquids (Lemoncello, perhaps or olive oil in a really cute little bottle), they have no way of really knowing where you are going to be traveling after the purchase. They will seal your purchase in a plastic bag along with your receipt, and you will think you are good to go.   After all, you are behind the security checks. This is fine if you are going say from Italy to Switzerland, but if you are going to be traveling BACK to the USA, you will probably lose your purchase. This is probably only when you leave a secured area and enter another country where you will have to go through security again, but I don't know that I would take the chance. In Zurich, we did have a designated custome/security check line for US citizens.

15. Just after I mentioned to Becky that the drivers in Italy weren't as bad as I thought they would be, we took a cab from the hotel to the train station in Viareggio. The sterotypical Italian driver is out there, just not so stereotypical after all.

16. Ok, so we still don't quite have this one figured out, but don't try to have lunch at lunch time, like say from 1230 to 1300. Even restaurants are closed during the lunch hour, except some of the Japanese or Chinese pizza places. (Yeah, I know. Why go to Italy for Bonzai Pizza? Perhaps because they are the only ones open at "lunch time")Many stores close at 1230 and don't reopen until 1600. Dinner is hard to find until around 1900, but is served until around 10.

17. Coffee sold at a "bar" is about €1-2, and you drink it standing up, and usually pretty much taken as a shot, after you have stirred in a couple of teaspoons of sugar to the 30cc of liquid you have, in effect turning it into coffee flavored syrup. If you want to sit at a table, it goes up about €0.50, but you will get service.

18. If you do something, or meet someone and it is something or someone unique, take a picture. Otherwise it will end up on the "Because we are idiots" blog that one of us may eventually write.

19. Take a list of names and addresses of everyone you think you even MAY want to send a postcard to, because as some of you know, you didn't get one, and even if we fully intended to send one, it was because we didn't have an address that you didn't get one. Or we didn't think you actually are interested. Or we just didn't bother. Or we were busy doing something much more important. Pick one.

20. I really can't think of another one, but I don't like ending a list on an odd number.

Ok, so that is enough for now. If we get around to the "idiots" blog, there may be some overlap, but not enough that it should matter. I am sure Becky will have some to add to this, but for now:

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
-- Franklin P. Jones

Dee

WEKYN, Parte Due (Where Everyone Knows Your Name, Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:58:00 +0000

Italy
One of my facebook friends is Stè Bassan. He has a tavern in a small suburb of Padova called Albignasego (I can spell it, but have a really hard time saying it, especially to cab drivers. Fortunately, they seem to be able to figure it out, and gently correct me. Still can't say it very well).

He has had the tavern for about a year, and it is also the Triveneto headquarters for the Danilo Sacco fan club. For those who I maybe haven't talked to in a couple of years, he is the lead singer of an Italian group I like. That is how I became acquainted with Stè.

Luke's Beer

When I told him we were planning a trip to Italy, he said to come by the tavern, and we could try some beers. There were several reasons why I picked Padova, including the nearness to Venice, the lower cost for rooms, and because it is near the tavern. It was going to be fun to meet someone I felt I knew a little, and it would be the first contact with someone in Italy that also sort of knew me. I was very nervous about speaking Italian to Italians, and I was hoping that I would be able to have some kind of conversation with him.

We arrived in Venice early in the morning at the Santa Lucia station, checked our packs, and took off walking through the alleys of the city, over the canals, around corners, always following the signs to Piazza San Marco. Venice is a great place. It was Sunday, but it wasn't yet busy. Many of the street venders were just setting up, and a lot of the shops weren't open. We eventually found our way to San Marco (NOW it was crazy busy!),

It was WAY busier than it looks

and then caught a vaporetto (a canal bus) back to the train station. (Hopefully, there will be a Venice blog, although it will be rather late.)

There we purchased tickets to Padova on the slow train, and arrived about 1/2 hour later. Because I didn't do a very good job giving Becky the hotel information, we sat around outside for about 1/2 hour until I could figure out which way we were to go to the hotel. It was only about a 15 minute walk, but by that time, we were getting a little tired. We finally got there, checked in, and I really can't remember what we did after that until about evening.

We called a cab, and took off for a town I really couldn't quite pronounce, and hoped they were open (yeah, I know). We arrived about €22 later, and went in.

Stè wasn't immediately seen, but I asked the bartender if he was there, and as I did, Stè came around the corner. Such a nice man. And the tavern is wonderful. We immediately felt welcome, and started by having a small meal, even though I think we were a little early for them. We have found out that most "evening" in Italy don't even begin to start until about 9 pm, and we were there about 7, I think.

Looks like "just" spaghetti with sauce, but boy,
would you be wrong

We shared a wonderful tender bruschetta, Becky had a pasta with mushrooms, and I had what was like an Italian quesadilla, but with a definite Italian touch.

Becky had planned to purchase some Italian wine while we are in Italy for Steve and Diane, and we also wanted to get some for Eric and Lin, so we asked Stè for his recommendation, and he asked how much we wanted to spend. Since the cost of shipping was going to be rather high, we figured we would get something around €20-22. He said he had some wine that he and his dad made, and that we could have some of that for €3 each. We thought that would be great. As it was, we would have no idea how any wine we bought would taste, and at the very least, this wine had a great story. He said there would be karaoke the next night, and we said we would like to come. He then said he would bring the wine then, however then he said he was going to go get his fiancé and would be back in 15-20 minutes. We had a nice time watching people, chatting a little with the bartender who spoke a little English, and enjoying our wine and food.

About 20 minutes later, Stè returned.... with six bottles of wine: Three white, and three red.

Mystery wine at bottom of picture

He gave them to us. For free. I think his dad also came in, but he didn't stop by the table. It was such a kind gesture. I can't wait to try the wine. (I also mailed myself two bottles. We used post office wine boxes, but still are not sure how well they will transport. The bottles have bottle caps on them, not corks. There also aren't any labels on the bottles. We only claimed €20 on the customs forms, hoping we won't be levied a high tariff, but won't know until they get there. We really don't even know if they will allow them into the country. We will see.)

[For the recipients to consider:

Air fare to Italy: $880
Cab fare to Osteria: €22 x 3 plus one for €44 (don't ask)
Packing boxes, postage: ~ €50 each

Keep in mind this may be the most expensive wine you never get]

So, the next night, we gave the cab company another €22 (yes, it was the same on the way back the night before..... the wine is becoming more expensive). We had an incredibly fun time.

The DJ was insane.

Nicola Schiavo, the DJ

There were a number of people who sang who had beautiful voices. They played several
songs that were for me (Nomadi...the group I like), and although I didn't go up and sing, Stè did, and he has a really good voice, and everybody sang with every song anyway. His girlfriend, Monica also sang several songs, and sings well. We felt very welcomed, and even though we didn't speak the language well (or at all), and didn't know a lot of the songs, and couldn't remember anyone's names, nor they ours, it didn't matter. Sometimes, "everyone knows your name" is just a figure of speech, and it is the thought that counts.

Dee

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:48:00 +0000

Whether they are called bars, pubs, taverns, or (in Italy), osteria, there is something special about a place that you can go into where the same group of people show up every evening and socialize together. There is sometimes good music, sometimes singing, sometimes just catching up on the days events. The conversation can be about sports, politics, the economy, or the recent layoffs and factory shut downs. They are places where you can receive emotional support, laughs, tears, or if not solutions to your problems, at least understanding.

I personally don't have a particular place like this where I am a constant and familiar figure, but it has been fun watching the people in some of these places, and in at least one case, we were so welcomed, it felt like we have been there for years.

Inverness, Scotland

One of the first places we went to in Scotland was not even really open. It was probably about 4:00 pm, and there were only a couple of people at the bar. We ordered a drink, and sat for a bit, but it wasn't really time to be there yet, so we left. I did like the inside, though. It was the type of place we wanted to find, but not the right time of day.

Later that day, we learned of another pub called Gellions where there was going to be traditional Scottish music that evening. We went at 8:00 because that is what time we thought the music started, but we were the only ones there. We did have a good meal, but then went out for a bit (ice cream :) ), and returned back at 9 for the music. It was wonderful, but since I forgot my camera, there are no pictures. (I remembered later that I had my cell phone.) We enjoyed a group called Schiehallion lead by Kenneth Jamienson who has a wonderful voice. Here is a YouTube clip with Kenneth singing. I think this is a more formal setting (notice the shirts and ties), but the feeling is the same, and it is in Gellion's.

The next night there was another group playing at a pub called Hootananny's. This is (of course!) a Thai restaurant/pub, and although the group that was playing was ok, it was more Irish-celtic jig music than what we had enjoyed the night before. It was heavy on fiddle, and not as enjoyable....but the Thai food was excellent.

Hootananny's, Inverness

Next door to our hostel was the Castle Tavern, and actually the first place we went to after we got set up in our room. We had a nice meal, and a drink. No inside pictures, but we do have some of the outside. And you can read more about it here.

The Castle Tavern

Edinburgh

On to Edinburgh.... a real party town. Going from the very quiet of Bute to the moderately restrained Inverness, and then hitting Edinburgh was like going from Estacada to Salem to Portland. Ok, maybe a little wilder than Portland. Quite a surprise. The parties didn't exactly stay in the pubs. They seemed to continue all night at times, and right under our window in the hostel. The tall old buildings, cobblestoned streets, and long alleys make for excellent acoustics, and the sound carries quite well... both up, down, and across everything.

I don't remember the name of this one, but we had dinner there. They had a really good beer tasting sampler.

We went to several interesting places. One wasn't even a pub, but a whisky store. There Brian, the whisky expert, gave me a "wee dram" of an incredible 27 year old scotch whisky that he warned me (rightfully so) would ruin me for any other scotch.

It didn't burn going down, it lingered on the tongue for at least 1/2 hour, and made every other whisky I tasted in Scotland seem second rate. I did stop by to "thank him", but he was gone for the day. The other fellow who was also there at the time said he would "surely pass along the message". This is the history of the brand

Dailuaine 27 year old Scotch Whisky

The other place we went that was a pub, although we ate there upstairs in the restaurant, is worth a mention for the ceiling. Oh, and it was the place I had Haggis.

Ceiling of the Deacon Brodie's Tavern

I think I will continue with Italy in a second part. It seems the more pictures I ask the program to insert, the longer it takes.

Dee

Dreams of a 9 Year Old Realized

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:35:00 +0000

In about 1959, I saw a movie that impressed me greatly (as a 9-year old). It was "The Miracle of the White Stallions". Since that time I have wanted to go to Austria and see the Spanish Riding School. Today that dream came true. We arrived in Vienna last night and checked into our hostel.

One of the hallways

Although unassuming from the outside, it is really nice inside.

Front sign

Our room

Outside patio

This morning, we had a reservation at the Spanish Riding School (the Winter School) for a 2 hour training session. I had decided that I would rather do that than just attend a performance. In addition, I made reservations for us to join a tour of the school afterward.

Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed for performances or training sessions, however, I was happy to get some other good photos that I can share with you. The School is located in a very different place than I anticipated. It is in the middle of a very famous plaza, in the Hofburg Palace.

Many carriages around the Palace

Hofburg Palace, home of the
Spanish Riding School

On arrival and after finding the school inside the Palace, we were ushered into the hall, or arena where we had come to observe 2 hours of training sessions.

The riders were dressed in their uniforms which I thought was amazing for a training session. Each trainer starts as an Elevey, around the age of 15, and is entrusted with one horse they are to train up the level of being put into a performance. This takes 4-6 years. After that time, they become an assistant rider. Then as an assistant rider, they are assigned 5 horses and are under the toutelage of a chief rider. When the trainers are assigned a horse, it is assumed that that trainer will stay with that horse for it's entire performing life - which can be up to around 23 years of age. The horses are not started until they are 4 as they are allowed to grow up and mature before starting the training.

I was surprised to see that the horses are often given treats while being trained. The riders have a special pocket in the back of their jackets in which (I was later told) they keep sugar cubes. When a horse does a particularly good job, they are given a sugar cube. Another thing of interest I learned is that they do very little warm-up before either training or performing. These horses are apparently well built for the work they do, which looks, and is, VERY collected, and they do not require a big warmup. I noticed the trainer would walk maybe twice around the arena, then trot for a couple minutes and would then begin asking for the exercise, whether it be passage, tempes, side passes, whatever. And always in collection. They would however, after a particularly long session of collection, drop them and let them stretch out. I noticed one horse being worked very hard on the Piaffe (trotting in place). After the exercise that looked very hard, the horse was allowed to trot out for a few strides - like a release.

During the training session we watched, assistant riders working their charges. (No photos allowed inside at that time). There were four 1/2-hour groups of 5 horses trained. Only one horse did airs above the ground and it was only 2 times. He was practiced on the courbette - raising full height on the hind legs and completing a series of jumps forward. One amazing note was the the rider had no stirrups. Later I asked and was told that NONE of the airs are ever ridden with stirrups.

After the training session, we had signed up for a tour of the school. It was wonderful to see the barns which are also in the palace.

There is 3 story courtyard, built by a early king who wanted his son to live in the quarters in the second story, above the horses. The son thought it was too small for living and chose a different home (he was obviously crazy). The whole bottom story is the stalls. Some of the stalls face out into the courtyard, there are two more rows of stall behind those that are facing out. These stalls house a total of 76 stallions - IN the palace which is in the middle of Vienna - just amazing.

We had noticed one beautiful blood bay horse in the training session. We were told it is because it is considered good luck for there to be at least 1 horse "of color" in the stables. They currently have two.

We visited the tack room which was stacked ceiling high with all of the saddles and bridles.

Each has a name plate as every saddle is made custom for each horse and because they are fit for the horse, they require no padding.
There are 1/2 pads that go behind the saddle (seen on the far wall in the frame). The green ones are for those horses that still do only flat work. The red pads are for those horses that can do Airs Above the Ground. Stripes on the pad signify the rank of the trainer, whether assistant or chief.

Two bridles were red and those signified those horses as worked from the ground (long reins).

Finally we went outside and saw the outside training ring, although it was located inside the hot walker. The hot walker was actually a oval shaped building which they put the horses into, seperated by large hanging rubber dividers. The horses are put into the walker loose and between two of these dividers. When the hot walker begins to move, the horse is gently prodded along by the divider. The section they are in is quite a bit longer than they are. When the walker changes direction, the guide said the horses know and will automatically turn around inside their section. You can almost see the arena behind the hotwalker, which goes around the entire perimeter of the arena.

I have much more information and many more photos, but that is all I could fit in here. I have to say it was one of my best days - EVER. I hope to share more with my horse-friends who may be interested.

Becky

On The Road To Nowhere..... and Very Slowly.

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:39:00 +0000

1st Class lounge, Amsterdam Centraal
Train Station

(Written on October 13... but posted October 14)

We started out last night well. We stayed in the 1st Class lounge at Amsterdam train station (lovely), and we caught our City Nights sleeper train which was on time. The porter, who seems very distracted, and speaks perhaps less English than I thought he did, was not very helpful in showing us how to use the things in our room. He did show us the reading light (about a 15 watt bulb), and how to work the air conditioning. He didn’t bother to tell us how to turn the water on in the sink, and it wasn’t until the next morning that Becky figured it out.

Train sleeper with seats up,
Amsterdam to Munich

The beds are quite firm, and the train is extremely rough. I am rather amazed because I have slept on trains in the past, and they sort of relax you and lull you to sleep. This shook you awake, and there was really no lulling. We each fell asleep easily enough, but the trick this time was staying asleep. There were several times during the night that I thought we were actually making a 90 degree turn (which I know is not possible), and wasn’t sure we weren’t going in a big circle. The train would speed up rapidly, and then come to a very quick stop.

(Whoo-hoo….. train moving….more about that in the next paragraph)

The porter told us that a buzzer would go on an hour before we reached Munich, and that they would then bring around breakfast and coffee. We have been concerned because we have less than 10 minutes to transfer trains there. He said it wasn’t a problem, that there were trains every 30 minutes from Munich to Vienna, but he didn’t know if we had to get another ticket, or if we could use the one we had.

I had set the alarm on my phone for 0630 to be sure we got up, but by the time the alarm rang, I realized we had been sitting still for a long time. This had happened several times during the night, so I thought it was just another stop, and they were waiting for something. Well, they were.

I stepped outside the train (in the dark) to talk to two other train employees, since I couldn’t find our porter, but neither of them spoke any English, Spanish, or Italian. I sort of figured out, though since the train wasn’t moving, it was now 0645, and no one seemed in any hurry to get back on the train, that we were stopped for some other reason other than a regular train stop.

Finally, I spoke to a woman who was talking to them in German, and in English she told me we were at this time 3 hours late, and would be probably 5 hours late getting into Munich because “a lock was broken”. Becky and I started to convert our bunks into seating. We had most of it figured out, and then caught the porter in a moment when he was a little less distracted, and he finished putting the seats up.

Now back to “Whoo-hoo, we are moving.” It is now 0750 and it looks like we are on our way. I am still not sure where we are, but at least we are going in the right direction. I think. Well, we will get to see a little more of Germany now that it is daytime, and we are sitting up in our little compartment, with 3-5 hours of “free” train time at our disposal.

The other good news is that since we still have the 1500 Munich to Vienna ticket from our earlier purchase, and we were unable to convince Raileurope to take them back, we do have a reservation on the 1500 train… if we get to Munich by then. More later…. Oh, and perhaps I need to learn just a little more German than Bitte and Danke.

*************************************************************************************

1318: We are now sitting in our first class train to Vienna. We haven’t started moving, yet, but I do believe we are at least on the right train. Very nice seats, lots of leg room. We were indeed five hours late getting in, but the transfer of tickets went fairly well. We now have a four hour ride through Germany and part of Austria to get to Vienna. We will be getting in about six hours later than we had originally planned, but still earlier than the day tickets we had purchased before (see prior post). Now if I can get a cup of coffee, all will be pretty right with the world.

What About the Food?

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:43:00 +0000

So, one of the things that defines a culture is it's food. We have been trying some different things over the past week, and want to share them. We will start adding either a separate post, or an insert in the regular posts about new things we have learned about food.

A very popular breakfast item we have found (although we have also found it on lunch menus) is a breakfast egg and bacon, or egg and sausage roll. The first one I tried was at the Brasserie (see jazz pictures in the prior blog). This was a wonderful restaurant, and the food was very good. Becky had a BLT, and I had the breakfast roll.

The egg was fresh and cooked perfectly, and the bacon was a cross between Canadian bacon, bacon and ham. Salty and the perfect compliment to the egg and the wonderful soft, seedy roll.

2. When you order coffee, you will be asked "black or white". White coffee is hot milk and coffee. Rather like a latte. The coffee here in the UK has been very good, although very strong. An Americano, which in the US is just hot water and coffee, is more like a "shot in the dark" would be in the US: Regular coffee with a shot of espresso. Quite strong. I have decided to order a pot of hot water with my americano to extend the coffee, and not overdose on a straight hit of caffeine. Oh, and you don't get "free refills" here, at least not anywhere that I have been.

A side note: It has also been hard to figure out the tipping procedure here. Do you or don't you, and how much? I was just talking with the man who runs the hostel, and he says it is very much up to you. The tendency is to tip less than in America, he says "usually 12-12 1/2 % is the suggested amount in some restaurants, but there won't be any verbal abuse if you don't."
3. Spotted Dick: We were shopping for some bread and cheese in a co-op market in Rothesay, and found a package of "spotted dick" in the mark down bin. We had just recently seen it on a menu in a nice restaurant we had visited the first night in the town, but didn't quite have the nerve to ask what it was. According to Carol, a woman from Cheshire, England who we met in the hostel, it is a very common dessert on school menues, and is either loved or hated by school children (she hated it) . It didn't sound particularily appetizing: Suet sponge with raisins, and a custard sauce. Well, Becky and I have decided after experimenting with several desserts, that anything with custard sauce is wonderful (see following note), so we decided for 99p that we would take the chance, especially since the package said it was a "co-operative spotted dick". It was actually pretty good. We also had a good laugh discussing the name, whether the discount would affect the quality of a "spotted dick", what happens to a due-to-expire spotted dick, and would "reducing" the price also reduce the size of the..... well, you get the idea, and you can take it from there.

4. Custard sauce: I have always said that you could put cream cheese on anything and it would be good. Likewise, you can put kennel ration on a Ritz cracker, and it would be yummy. Well, add to these truths one about custard sauce. It is an amazing creation, and guaranteed to make ANYTHING not only yummy, but incredibly so (see above suet recipe). It should be packaged and placed on the table along with salt, pepper, and butter so you could put it on whatever you wanted. Pancakes, check. Oatmeal, check. Vegetables, yeh, probably check. Ice cream, absolutely. It makes any cake immediately better than on its own. It is so good, you can eat it with a spoon. I think it could be produced and sold in cans rather like evaporated or condensed milk. There could be a real market for it.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard sauce

This is another wonderful item which on it's own is worth eating. It is a toffee cake drowning in caramel, and the you have the option (like who wouldn't) of adding the Amazing Custard Sauce (and yes, it should be capitalized).

Becky and I both admitted it was actually better than the cocolate cake below.

Chocolate cake with custard sauce

The chocolate cake was moist and not too sweet, so adding the Amazing Custard Sauce didn't make it sweeter. That is one of the things about it that makes it Amazing.... it isn't actually overly sweet. Just rich and creamy.

5. Last night, we went to a pub to listen to traditional Scottish music (more about that later), and we had dinner there. For £3.95 I had a toasted cheese sandwich and a wonderful parsnip and honey soup. It was blended smooth with the consistency of thin applesauce, and had a really wonderful flavor. Just a hint of sweetness, and a subtle parsnip flavor. It wasn't overly woody tasting, but had the earthiness that parsnip lovers like.

Ok, enough about food. I hope to post a bit about our pub experience last night last night, and we also have another one planned for tonight. Were we were lacking in "pubness" in Rothesay, we are making up for it here in Inverness.

We are going to go out and try to find another interesting breakfast, and will update as needed.

Dee

Thirty P to Pee

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:32:00 +0000

10/2 The biggest event today was that we walked up Serpentine Hill to find the family home - Canada Cottage. Apart from a tough climb, it was exciting to find the cottage at the end of a short road with a view of the bay from the back of the cottage.

Front of Cottage and back of cottage.

In the evening, our host Sandy, entertained us with his abilities to play many different instruments. He gave Dee her first guitar lesson (of sorts).

Our lovely visit to the Isle of Bute came to an end and we caught the ferry, then the train from Weymss Bay back to Glasgow where after much worry, I was able to find and reclaim my wayward boots. It cost an £18.50 taxi ride but I had a great driver and got a history lesson about Glasgow along the way. From Glasgow, we caught a train to Perth, and then changed trains in Perth to Inverness. Something we learned in the various train stations led to the title of this post. It costs you £.30 (thirty P, or Pence) to Pee in a train station.

BTW - Inverness is wonderful. The River Ness flows through town and is a beautiful walk. More from here later. Love - Becky & Dee

We Are Here!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Thursday 9/29. After first leg of our flight (LAX to Toronto) and finishing up the second leg(Toronto to London), we watched the sun come up from 35,000 feet. No sleep for either of us on the flight as it was too cramped. I sat next to a nice lady from Lebanon who was heading home from Canada. We de-planed around 0900, and caught and underground train from Heathrow to Euston Station (train). We put our bags in lockup and walked to a second station, where we caught the Picadilly train to the Final family home in a small town called Amersham.

We didn't stay long as we had gone virtually 32 hours by that time with no sleep. We headed back to Euston Station and, I'm so proud of Dee, she heard two women across from us on the train who were speaking Italian. She finally spoke to them and ended up having a 1/2 hour conversation with them Just chatted away!! For all her worry, she did GREAT.

Back at Euston Station, we had a light dinner in an American-style diner listening to 60's American music. We still had 5 hours to wait for our sleeper train to Glasgow and it was already 7:00 p.m. A VERY tiring evening. Only thing good was the lounge was air conditioned.

Friday 930 - Sleeper train arrived in Glasgow at around 7:25, we de-trained by 7:50. While in Glasgow Central Station, I realized I'd left my boots ON THE SLEEPER TRAIN. The nice ScotRail Duty Manager is tracking them for me and hopefully by the time we hit Glasgow again in two days he will have them. Otherwise I have one pair of shoes for 5 weeks and they are hurting my toes.

Weymss Bay Station

We caught the train from Glasgow Central Station to Weymss (Weems) Bay and then the ferry to the Isle of Bute. It was wonderful seeing the Island come into view and rounding the corner into the Bay that I felt like I knew. 10 years of thinking about it, dreaming and planning and we are here. It's wonderful. We rode a bus to see some of the Island and met Ruthie and Ian who were a wealth of information about the island. Would loved to have spent an hour or two just talking to them. Ian was dressed in green tartan pants, matching tie and some other emblems, pins etc. Very snappy.

Saturday 10/1 Exploring Bute. Writing this while in the local library, after visiting the local museum. This morning we had a really good breakfast in a recommended spot. Tim, the owner is a jazz musician, so we took pics for Kim Davis who is studying Jazz at Sac State.

More later - Becky & Dee

Realtà, ciò che un concetto.... parte due**

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 06:16:00 +0000

Waaaaayyyy back in December, when we were getting ready to turn the calendar page to January and we had to actually committ to the trip by (gasp) buying a plane ticket, I brought up the point in a blog that the fantasy play-planning was easy. And it was, but the real planning has been even more fun. Big decisions (where to fly into), little decisions (the hostel with the cockroaches, or more money for the hotel in the red light district). Little mistakes (meaning a little more money, as in Becky's choice to stay with the MP3 she is used to rather than the smaller LV125 I am taking [oops, did I mention the scooters? Oh, another blog coming, I guess.] vs bigger money mistakes (see prior blogs about Damsterdam). However, overall, we have made very few mistakes on paper, and it will be up to Reality to determine if they were big ones or minor ones.

It brings up the other subject that Rebecca (did I tell you she doesn't want to be "Becky" in Europe?) and I have talked about: Will Reality live up to Fantasy? Well, since it seldom does, I think we are pretty aware that all will not go according to plan. They say one of the ways you can tell something about a person is how they react when they lose their suitcase. Let's hope that doesn't happen, but I really think we could deal with it if it happened. We are realists. We know "life happens" and it is seldom what you expect, or what you want. But I do think we are also both rather fatalistic and look at life with a lemons-to-lemonade attitude, at least by the end of the day.

Packing light has been our goal from the start, and has been a challenge, but an interesting one. We never reached the "toothbrush and an extra pair of knickers" of my friend, Margaret, but I have figured out how to pack seven tops in a tiny little case, how to give things up that we thought we had to have, and how to multi-task other things. We are sharing some things, so we don't have unnecessary duplicates, and yet we each have our own personal items that are important to us (Me: iPod. Rebecca: Sony Reader). We each have places in "our part of the trip" that is something that one person wants to do more than the other, but we have found a way to enjoy the other person's obsession. It has made for an enjoyable process.

We also have most of the trip pre-paid. We paid for the plane tickets, rail pass, ferry, and train reservations out of pocket. We made a pool in our joint savings account where we would put in equal amounts of agreed upon money, and it is from that pool we will pay for anything that is equal cost, such as hotel rooms, taxis, tips, etc. We have estimated the cost of the rooms and put that much in equally. The only things we have left are the regional trains in Italy, and the occasional taxi ride, admission to an attraction, or.... well, food. Each of us will pay for our own food and drink. We are a little short there, and we figure we can live on bread, cheese, and wine (oh, and gelato). If we are really short on money, we will give up bread and cheese, but we recently had a very nice, very unexpected windfall from our brothers and I think we will actually be able to eat our ways across the island and continent without fear.

So what is next? Well, we have taken $100 each and left it in our Scotaly savings account, and that is our seed money for the next trip. We already have some idea of what it is, and when it will be, but time will tell. It will be a lot less expensive than this one, and not as long, but should be fun anyway. And for now, we are in countdown mode, and waiting for the adventure to continue...into the wardrobe, or down the rabbit hole, or through the looking glass, and into another world.

(** Reality, what a concept, part two)

Dee

14-0-48-15

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:31:00 +0000

I know it looks like the combination to a lock, but in reality it is the number of days-hours-minutes-seconds until we leave for Scotaly!! Dee very cleverly added a countdown meter to our site. I have enjoyed paying her back for that by popping the current numbers into a chat or e-mail every so often. Kind of makes one's stomach go 'blurp' and flip over. We both have tasks that need to be accomplished before we go. Some are realistic and some are imagined by both of us, and I guess when d-day comes, we will have done what we have done.

Personally, I have been packing and re-packing my backpack. Even though it's not easy to compress 5 weeks of travel stuff into 1 backpack for the trip, we are both convinced that it is the right thing to do. (My packed backpack below - yep, that's it)

We've decided to spend some time at our first destination, the Isle of Bute in Scotland, researching our ancestory. Our goal will be to find the gravesite of our Great, great, great (I think that's all the greats) grandparents that we believe are on the island. We also will be searching for Roslyn Cottage, an ancestral family cottage which we hope still is standing. One of the family cottages, Canada Cottage, IS still standing we know.

Many many adventures coming our way. Stay tuned for updates as we go :)

Becky

Pot, Pastry, and Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Since the last post, (which was started a week ago, but posted yesterday) some things have changed. We have gone back to our original plan, and although the tickets we had were non-refundable, non-exchangeable, we ran the numbers and decided we would be out about $50 each if we simply tossed the day train to Vienna, cancelled the room at A-Train, and took the night train. We won't be missing much time in Amsterdam, because we wouldn't have done any sight seeing after dark anyway, this train leaves at 8:00 pm, and we get access to the First Class Lounge in the Amsterdam station while we wait. Plus we don't have to get up early to catch the morning train. All in all, we are pretty satisfied with our decision, even with the loss of the money.

So, we leave Newcastle the evening of the 11th, and get into Ijmuiden about 0930 on the 12th.

Continuing Becky's itinerary:

Oct 12 Amsterdam to Munich by night train
Oct 13 Connecting train from Munich to Vienna
Oct 13-15 Vienna
Oct 15 Night train to Venice
Oct 16 Arrive Venice early am. Explore a bit, then train to Padova.
Oct 16-18 Padova/Venice
Oct 19 Padova to Perugia (see November 16, 2010 post)
Oct 19-20 Perugia
Oct 21 Perugia to Lucca
Oct 21-22 Lucca
Oct 23 Lucca to Viareggio (by Vespa :) )
Oct 23-24 Viareggio
Oct 25 Viareggio to Cinque Terre
Oct 25-28 Cinque Terre

After the 28th, I am not sure where we will be. We may go to Torino to visit a Facebook friend (April 1, 2011) who is seriously ill. Or we may stay in CT, or go to Bologna, Parma, and Modeno...three places seriously connected with food (no, not "bologna"...balsamic vinegar, prosciutto, cheeses).

In any case:
Oct 30-Nov1 Milan
Nov 1 Milan-->Zurich-->LA

The only regret I have is that because the euro is so bad right now, we won't get to be as spontaneous as we wanted to be in Italy. It would be very difficult to find a cheap place on the fly...it has been hard enough to find a cheap place with planning. In exchange, we will be staying in each of our places for 2-3 days with few planned activities in each place. Hopefully, this will allow us to be a little spontaneous, even if it means "spontaneously" sitting in a piazza drinking tea and reading a book in the sun. (yeah, I know....Italy in late October may not be sunny, but give us our Tuscan dreams.)

Sleeping Sitting Up...and Other Poor Choices

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Our first plan was to take the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam, explore the city some, and then catch the night train to Vienna by way of Munich. It was a good plan, and we probably should have kept it. Instead, I got the wonderful idea that instead of paying $240 or so and sleeping the entire way across, that if we took that same money and put it on a cheap hotel room in Amsterdam, we could have a wonderful day there, spend the night and catch a cheaper train in the morning, and enjoy the scenery along the way. Right. (see prior post).

So, since I couldn't go back and change our non-refundable, non-transferable, non-exchangeable tickets, I got to spend about 3 days finding suitable accomadations in an incredibly expensive city. Going forward, we do have first class tickets on the train, and we can see where we are going.   The schedule looks like this:

Amsterdam            Departs 0704
Franfurt                 Arrives 1034

Frankfurt               Departs 1054
Munich                 Arrives 1433

Munich                 Departs 1527
Vienna                  Arrives 0744

We do get a couple of breaks when we change trains, so that will help to break up a very long train ride. Plus we get to step foot in two different German cities. Ok, two different German train stations, but at this point, we are looking for our adventure where we can find it.

Part two to follow..............................

Thisiswhathappeswhe_yourputeris_roke

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:18:00 +0000

whe_youhave_o(letteraftera)a_d_o(letterafterm),a_d_ospace_ar,thisiswhatitlookslike.Veryhardtocommuicateyourideas.A_dveryfrustrati_g

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't, or Finding A Room In Damnsterdam.

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 08:04:00 +0000

I can't believe it is almost a month since we have entered anything in the blog. I guess this is to be expected since we have been busy doing other things....like finalizing stuff.
OK, now I am really panicking. The panic I was feeling in January when we decided to book our plane tickets...? Minor. This is that gut-wrenching "I-haven't done-my-homework-and-I-have-an-oral-presentation-today" sort of panic. It is because now that it is nearly time to go, in my typical procrastinating fashion, I realize how much I still have to do to be ready. Or do I? Are there things I am worrying about that don't really have to be done? Could I just pick up my backpack and leave? Perhaps so. Maybe I don't have to clean my closets. Maybe if the garage is still cluttered, it isn't the end of the world. Maybe I don't have to have a pair of brown pants, and I can get by with the brown skirt I already have. In any case, we are about out of time. ARGGGGGGH.

So, what have we really accomplished during this extended period of procrastination?
Following where Becky left off, somewhere in the English Channel between Newcastle and Amsterdam:

Amsterdam. Now known to Becky and I as "Damsterdam". I am sure it is a great place to vist. You even have your choice of smoking friendly places. You realize of course, it isn't nicotine they are friendly toward. And then, most of the cheaper hostels/hotels are either in or very near the famous Red Light District. Not that it wouldn't be interesting to see, but I am not sure I want to live there, even for one night, primarily because of the noise levels. I understand there is a very strong police presence, but I can see between the "coffee shops"(actually places that are licensed to sell pot, and where you are allowed to legally smoke, even on the patio), and the tours to see the ladies of the night in their lit up windows, there could be a fair amount of traffic noise.

I thought somewhere along the line we might have one night in a nice hotel, rather than the low end in which we are staying, but I really didn't think our most expensive stay would be in a hotel in the Red Light district of Amsterdam, right across from the train station. So why are we not staying in a cheap place, like a hostel? Well, although we both take reviews with a grain of salt (Becky takes less salt than I do), there is a limit on what is and is not acceptable.

Acceptable: cheap, steep stairs, 4th story attic, no breakfast, share room with 20 other people (male/female/both), shared bathroom (I expect with the same 20 people), no air conditioning/heat, no view, away from town, not pretty...

Not acceptable: cockroaches, bed bugs (I know they can be found even in 5-star hotels, but combined with other wild life, no), rats, mice, black mold, dirty mattresses, drunks, clouds of smoke, noise all night, vomit (see drunks), etc...and those were the €30/night hostels and also included all the lovely things in the above "acceptable" catagory. That is a per person, per night, per bunk €30+ price. $42-43 each. I think Motel 6 is about $60 per room, and does not come with roomates. Of any kind. Except maybe bedbugs.

So, we are staying at a place that is considered a 3-star hotel, and has an 85% approval rating from prior guests, and we are paying €129 ($184 for the two of us) for a twin room with bath (I think). It IS right across from the train station, and considering our train in the morning is at 0700, that is a good thing. They will also arrange a breakfast for us to take with us, since we miss their breakfast buffet, and it has a 24 hour check in.

A-Train Hotel-Amsterdam

Part two will be from Amsterdam to Vienna...where Becky has to pick it back up.

Prepare to be jealous

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:46:00 +0000

It's finally done! Scotland is planned and locked in. Now my only concern is that I have over planned. We recently had the discussion of the difference between being a tourist and vacationing. We are vacationing, but still want to see lots. If you spend too much time rushing around and looking at things you are being a tourist, not vacationing. What do you think?

Sept 28      Leaving LAX 11:00 a.m.
Sept 29      Arrive London, Heathrow at 08:35 a.m. (it's 11 hours but we stop shortly in Toronto), spend the day looking around London, then a sleeper train from London at 11:50 p.m.
Sept 30      Train arrives in Glasgow, Scotland at 7:19 in the morning. Puruse Glasgow for a few hours then catch a short train to Weymss (weems) Bay and finally a ferry to the Isle of Bute,
Oct 1         Isle of Bute, our ancestral home.

Main Street of Rothesay, Capital of Bute

Canada Cottage - Ancestral family home

Oct 2 Isle of Bute

Island countryside

Oct 3 Isle of Bute

Oct 4 Return Ferry, train to Glasgow then catch train to Inverness in the North Highlands of Scotland

Oct 5 Inverness

Inverness Castle

Oct 6 Inverness

Oct 7 Leaving Inverness by train to Edinburgh.

Oct 8 Edinburgh

Oct 9 Edinburgh

Oct 10 Edinburgh

Oct 11 Leave Edinburgh by train to Newcastle on the northeast coast of England to catch a ferry which will take us to Amsterdam. 20 hour, overnight ferry - like Las Vegas on the water we hear!

Castles, cathedrals, pubbing, gorgeous accents, kilts. How bad can it be?? Well, there is Haggis, but we've pledged to try it in the spirit of adventure. Let you know how THAT turns out.

Becky

I'm OK... Euro OK, or "What About That Elephant in the Middle of the Room"

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:16:00 +0000

The Euro. €. Not euros, but euro is ok. In fact, "Euros" is used so much, it is starting to be accepted. Actually the only thing we really care about the euro is the exchange rate. Right now, it is not very good, and I really don't see it getting any better in 2 1/2 months. In effect, we give them $1.00 and they give us €.71 (of note: I started writing this a week ago. Today they would only give us $.70) They give me a Euro, and I give them $1.41. Not great, especially when the cost of housing is high. (The £ is even worse, but this blog is about euro.)

So when the European Union was formed, one of the primary concerns was easing commerce across the borders of the individual countries. So, as of January 2009, some of the casualties of the merger were the lira, franc, gulden, peseta, koruna, tolar, mark, and the escudo, among miscellaneous other odds and ends. In its place they created the euro.

Not all individuality was squashed, though. There is a common side to all of the coins, and the reverse side was designed by each individual country. They were given the chance to make it their own. Each coin, although tagged with that country's stamp, can be used in any other EU participating country. So while you couldn't spend the Italian lira in France, you can spend the Italian designed euro in Germany, France or the Netherlands, etc. Oh, and as mentioned in a prior blog entry Vatican City (city state), the Republic of San Marino (an independent republic within the boundries of Italy), and the Principality of Monaco (another city state) each have their own National side.

Top coin: Common side
Next coins: National side
Bottom three: City States

I think it would be interesting to collect one of each country, but it could make for a very heavy backpack.

Oh, and the British Pound Sterling? If we give them $1.00, they give us £.62 and if they give us £1.00, we give them $1.61.

Whoever said that travel was enriching very clearly did not mean financially.

Creating a Stylish Brother

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 04:54:00 +0000

So how often do we actually get to play dress-up with our brothers, particularly when they are grown? In a nice surprise our brother Barry has advised us that he would like a kilt from Scotland while we are there. On his recent visit to my house, he and I talked about kilt styles and I advised him of Dee and my preferences as gained during our "Monarch of the Glen" stage. Those not familiar with that particular BBC show are missing out. It is situated on a gorgeous Scottish estate http://www.flickr.com/photos/31256888@N08/5158697786/. One of our favorite characters was a worker on the estate named Duncan (that's Duncan on the left in the photo below)

The fun thing about Duncan is that he always wears a kilt and compliments it with hiking boots, thick socks and usually a t-shirt or cable knit sweater

The look worked for us, so that is what I passed on to Barry as his style goal.

He in turn has handed over the purchase responsiblilties of this totally cool outfit to us - which will be fun. We just have to find the right tartan, the right accessories and the right shop. Barry's plan is to wear his kilt to a golf tournament he participates in every year. Should make quite a statement!

I got another little touch of Scotland this past weekend during a visit to the Northern California coast. There is a small, very lovely town called Ferndale where there was a dog show I wanted to attend (along with having my annual ocean fix). To my great surprise, this gentleman attended and was dressed to kill while showing his Scottish Deerhound. I thought it was a wonderful look.

And finally, while driving through the farms/ranches between Ferndale and the beach, I passed these darling creatures. Yet another preview of Scotland. These are Scottish Highlander cattle. I think this was all a sign!

San Marino: An Italian Turducken*

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:54:00 +0000

(*Tur-duk-in: For those not familiar with the Food Channel, a Turducken is a chicken placed inside of a duck which is stuffed inside of a turkey, sewn closed and then the whole thing is roasted in the oven. The only relationship to my blog post is that neither the duck or the chicken have any easy access to the outside world, and nor does San Marino.)
*******************************************************************************************
Apparently, one of the casualties of the formation of the EU was the fun of getting your passport stamped. With the open borders, there is little need to track people traveling from one member country to another, so not only are passports not stamped, but seldom requested.

Passport stamps used to be one of the few free souvenirs you could bring home without buying additional luggage. Now, although you can sometimes request a stamp, most of the time it just isn't done. There are a few exceptions, though....

Il Vaticano
Most people know that the Vatican is a City State within the city of Rome, and as such have their own version of the Euro and they will stamp your passport at a kiosk if you ask.

San Marino
What a lot of people don't know (me included until I came across it in something I was reading) is that there is another country entirely within the country of Italy. It is called the Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Repubblica di San Marino), and is a 24 square-mile "enclave surrounded by Italy (Wiki)", and has a population of about 30,000.

San Marino is the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world, as the continuation of the monastic community founded on 3 September 301, by stonecutter Marinus of Arbe.

San Marino is considered to have a highly stable economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, no national debt and a budget surplus.... Wiki

This tiny country is divided into nine "castelli" (meaning castles) or municipalities; eight minor munincipalities; and 43 hamlets or "curazie". It has its own local euro.

AND they stamp passports,although there is a small charge, so actually I guess they "sell" passport stamps. I am hope we might be able to make a small detour to San Marino to get our passports stamped, and visit another country, but there is no airport, no train station, no actual bus station. The best way to get there is to go to Rimini and catch the bus there, spend the day, and then go back to Rimini. Or, there is a hostel in the main town, so that would be another option. Since it is 3 hours from Padova, and three hours from Perugia, there is no easy way to get there, and it may be a bit of a hastle to just get a passport stamp, but who knows how long they will even be available, and if the time allows, it could be a fun adventure, as long as the dramamine holds out.

One Day At A Time

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 05:11:00 +0000

Tomorrow is ninety days. Three months. It seems that June came at us and past us with the speed of a freight train. I am almost afraid of July. What do I need to do, yet? Well, I don't know, because I have been trying to ignore all of it so completely that I haven't even made a really good list...and I am a major list maker. I have spent my time chatting with my Italian Facebook friends, surfing the internet, reading Italian blogs, and day-dreaming about the trip. Maybe the first step should be making a list?

Ok, so what sort of things do I have to do? Let's start at the beginning, always a good place to start. First, categories:

Things I need to do at home for while I am gone
Things I need to do for the trip
Things I need to do for "traveling" (what goes in the pack)
Things I need to leave at home.

So, in the first category, I am putting:

Finishing my living trust and will
Setting up automatic bill pays
Arranging for someone to put my checks in the bank
Making sure everything in my room is organized for company to stay there (OMG-there is ninety days worth of work)

Number two includes:

Buying the train passes
Checking on the ferry tickets
Making reservations for Venice/Padova
Reservations for sleepers

Amsterdam to Munich
Munich to Vienna
Vienna to Venice

Reservations for Cinque Terre (if we can decide when)

Third, the pack:

Completely pack the pack.
See what I forgot to pack
Unpack the pack and pack it again
Ok, what did I forget?
Maybe spend the last five weeks wearing only what I am taking? That could get really boring, especially when it will end up ten weeks in the same clothes.

Fourth, what I want to leave behind. This is really the hardest one, and the one I have to commit to the most. I don't want to take:

30#
Well, at least 20# (let's get real)
I want to leave behind my cellulite, belly fat, bat wings, double chin, grey hair, and wrinkles.
Too bad I also have to leave behind fantasy

I do want to be in shape for the walking, and we have talked about this so much. I have started walking many times, and last about four days before life gets in my way. I have to stop letting it happen.

I also have done a pretty good job of losing weight, but I have also done an even better job of putting it back on. The way it stands now, I have about broken even, maybe a pound or two less.

So, number four, with all of its self-inflicted challenges, barriers, procrastinations and excuses will be the hardest to deal with, and that is the main reason I decided to blog this. I want a public (well, as public as a blog that nobody reads) forum in which to air my dirty laundry, and hopefully to also record my successes...and maybe, just maybe get some encouragement.

Allora, as the American song "Tomorrow" says "Tomorrow...you're only a day away", or maybe more accurately as the Italian song "Domani" says, "domani è già qui" (tomorrow is already here).

Dee

Cento Giorni

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:29:00 +0000

ONE HUNDRED DAYS TO GO! And more than a hundred things to do. I guess that is only one thing per day :)

Dee

Surviving an OMG! Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:50:00 +0000

My fun summer project this year (aside from planning the trip of a lifetime) was to begin to ride JR, my cart pony. I thought it would be fun to get back in the saddle again since hauling the cart in and out has become a bit of a physical chore. I sent him to a trainer for a week to get him started, hopped on a couple times myself and all was going pretty good. I did come off once or twice (actually twice) but no harm, no foul. He's not very tall and it's not very far down. Both instances were preventable and not simply vicious on his part.

2 weeks ago I went over to my friend Patty's place to trail ride with her. It would be our 3rd trail ride - the first two being simply fantastic. While mounting from a plastic mounting block, I inadvertently moved my leg into JR's right side and like a good boy he moved away from it - which is what he is supposed to do. However, it caused him to step into the plastic mounting block and tangle his rear leg(s) in the block. Short story.....a rodeo ensued and I ended up on the ground rather hard. I knew it was different from my other falls immediately and moved slowly. I decided the prudent thing to do was to have Patty take me to the ER and get my hip checked which we did. All was well, so I hobbled home, and got on ibuprophen, ice and vicodin. A week later I went to the chiropractor who straightened out the problem with the right leg, but two days later the left began to H U R T. Since then...about 6 days now, I have been unable to use it without serious pain and resorting to my cane to get around. Went back in to the ER again Sunday, re-xrayed and still nothing shows broken. BUT I'm telling you, this H U R T S!

Bottom line is that my summer now will consist completely of working to get back into condition to walk Scotland and Italy without pain and/or a cane. No riding for me this summer :(. I'm very sad about that, but priorities are priorities. Oh, and just for the record let me tell you that 60 year old plus-sized ladies don't fall worth s**t. Wish me well.

Becky

"Would You Like A Little Cheese With Your Whine?"

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca and Dee) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:09:00 +0000

Ok, so I am going to bring it up one last annoying time, and then I won't mention it anymore. Here it is, the timeline from one of the all time great poor planners:

Zucchero's last concert tour, 4 years ago
Zucchero's current tour, started early May 9, 2011.
Zucchero's Italy leg of the tour... now
Europe and Italy until August 4, 2011.

Our trip September 29 to November 2. Bad timing number 1.

Nomadi's tour season: November 2010-September 11, 2011 (Yes, an entire year. 37 official performances so far in the past 6 months. There are at least another 31 scheduled for the summer. And this is their way cut back schedule from past years because of the heart attack of their lead singer.)
Did you notice that there are no concerts in October...Yup, good timing number two.

Nomadi's cruise to Spain for fans: October 26 to November 4, 2011. Number 3.

OK, now Zucchero's schedule for October? North America. Yup, number four.

Now for what set off this rant? Well, Zucchero's birthday is September 25. I just found out he has added two big concerts at the Arena in Verona for the 25th and 26th, and is inviting a lot of his friends to come perform, including... Yup, you've got it... Number five.

Così vicino, ma così lontano... (so close, but so far away)

I can only hope for Becky's sake I can do better with the train schedules or we may never even get to Italy.